The DEIB pursues ambitious research, educational and societal goals: to be at the cutting edge of research, generating innovative ideas, gaining international recognition, exploiting the synergy among researchers from different Information and Communication Technology (ICT) areas and from other disciplines.

The DEIB research is in continuity with the past but also pointing to new directions; its guidelines are:

• maintain a focus on long-term, basic and visionary research, funded by agencies and initiatives such as ERC, FET, EU Flagships, or PRIN at national level;
• enhance the involvement in medium-to-short-term research focusing mainly on those projects that transfer cutting-edge research results to improve products and services;
• enhance the involvement in interdisciplinary research, opening to collaborations with other departments and institutions. Such trend is fully in line with the Horizon 2020 framework program of the European Community, and focuses on a variety of challenges, from supporting the ageing society, to improving transportation, to addressing the climate change to supporting energy-aware society, and to strengthening education, cultural heritage and entertainment;
• support and contribute to the innovation processes of industries, public administrations, and the society in general, by understanding needs and problems, analyzing and interpreting market opportunities and challenges, identifying technological trends and directions, providing expertise and methods to design and develop disruptive solutions. To address these complex issues, DEIB will also exploit the partnership with CEFRIEL and with the spinoffs and startups that have been created over the past years.

The quality of research is also witnessed by the high number of DEIB members that participate in the scientific boards of prestigious international journals, conferences and research associations.

The Department is registered in QuESTIO, the mapping system of research services, technology transfer and innovation support.